Invalidation of Lost Documents

in the USSR the court procedure for protecting the rights of a petitioner who has lost a document made out in his name (a savings bank passbook, a deposit certificate for the safekeeping of treasury bonds). In court practice the term “lost” embraces lost, stolen, or unserviceable bearer documents. The loser of the documents may petition the court to declare invalid the document in question and to restitute his rights to it. The petition is filed with the court in the jurisdiction of the institution that had issued the document. After receipt of the petition the judge issues a court order prohibiting the issuing institution from making payments or delivery on the document and also ordering the placement of an appropriate public notice in the local paper at the cost of the petitioner summoning the interested persons (hence the Russian designation of the procedure as vyzyvhoe proizyodstvo, summoning procedure). If after three months from the day of publication no claim for the rights to the document has been forthcoming from the person holding the lost document, the judge issues a decision declaring the document invalid, on the basis of which either the deposit itself or a new savings pass-book or deposit certificate is delivered to the petitioner.